Viet Nam promotes cruise tourism

On June 9, the Viet Nam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) in conjunction with the People’s Committee of Khanh Hoa Province organized a seminar on “Cruise tourism development” under the framework of International Sea Travel Expo Nha Trang – Viet Nam 2013 (ISTE Nha Trang - Vietnam 2013).
The event attracted the participation of Mr. Tran Son Hai, Vice Chairman of the People’s Committee of Khanh Hoa Province, Mr. Nguyen Van Tuan, Director General of VNAT and more than 100 representatives of provinces, tourism organizations of ASEAN countries, international cruise operators, tour operators…
Speaking at the seminar, Director General Nguyen Van Tuan said, Viet Nam has many advantages to develop cruise tourism thanks to its geographical location in the dynamic developing area of Southeast Asia, in the important traffic routes on the East Sea. Viet Nam has 3,260km coastline and rich sea tourism resources. Recently, Viet Nam has invested in modernizing sea ports system in order to develop sea tourism. Viet Nam tourism sector has also exchanged experience with ASEAN countries which has developed cruise tourism. The sector expect to attract cruise tourists from key markets such as Europe, Americas, East Asia, Oceania…
In 2012, Viet Nam drew over 285,000 cruise arrivals via main ports like Ha Long, Hai Phong, Da Nang, Nha Trang, Vung Tau, Ho Chi Minh City… In 5 months of 2013, the number of cruise arrivals increased by 4.1% over the same period last year. However, this number occupied a small percentage of total international arrivals to Viet Nam (around 4 % - 5%).
In the seminar, Mr. Nguyen Quy Phuong – Head of Travel Department (under VNAT) pointed out the reasons of this situation relating to the infrastructure, quality service in sea ports, cruise tourism products, business capacity, policies, quality tourism human resource …
Being aware of the situation, participants proposed some solutions as: strengthening cruise tourism promotion to key markets, upgrading facilities for cruise ports, reforming customs procedures, enhancing inter-agency coordination, diversifying cruise tourism products, improving quality of human resource….